The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. will present the exhibition “Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work,” opening November 25, 2025, and running through July 12, 2026. The show features 88 works drawn from the museum’s collection, private collections, and public institutions, primarily created between the late 1930s and the artist’s death in 1961. It repositions Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses as a multidimensional force in American art, exploring her evolution from farmwife to famous artist, her life in post-Reconstruction Virginia, and her fusion of creativity, labor, and memory. The exhibition is organized by Leslie Umberger and former Randall Griffey, with support from Maria R. Eipert, and will travel after its premiere.
This exhibition matters because it reframes Grandma Moses—often reduced to a comforting grandmotherly figure—as a complex artist who helped bring self-taught art to the forefront of American consciousness. By establishing a destination collection of 33 works by Moses through gifts and pledges, the museum positions itself as a major resource for studying her art and legacy. The show also highlights how Moses’ celebrity status in Cold War America challenged gender and artistic norms, offering a nuanced view of an artist whose work remains compelling today.